MERTHYR Tydfil could become the centre for treatment for up to 10,000 people in Wales if it gets a state-of-the-art dialysis unit.

MERTHYR Tydfil could become the centre for treatment for up to 10,000 people in Wales if it gets a state-of-the-art dialysis unit.

Lesley Griffiths, minister for health and social services, has announced funding to build a centre replacing the current unit in Prince Charles Hospital.

The cost will be determined after the contract has been awarded, with a projected investment worth approximately £3m.

The proposed new development will increase dialysis capacity in Merthyr Tydfil by an additional 17 stations, giving a total of 30. These will be commissioned in stages as clinical demand dictates.

The new unit is expected to be completed in the summer of this year and will be welcome to patients using the unit at Prince Charles Hospital (PCH), which has been experiencing maintenance problems with the fabric of the current building, air conditioning and water supply. It also continues to strengthen hope in PCH becoming one of the four to five mooted “regional centres”, after another commitment to funding treatment at the hospital.

The regional centres will become hubs for consultant-led treatment in the likes of paediatrics and obstetrics – with PCH in potentially a prime geographic location.

Allison Williams, chief executive of Cwm Taf Health Board, said: “This new dialysis unit will make a real difference to the care we are able to offer patients while they are undergoing dialysis.

“When the new unit is opened, patients will undergo dialysis in a state-of-the-art centre and in a much-improved environment.

“It will also give us room to expand the service and meet the needs of patients suffering from kidney failure.”

Lesley Griffiths said: “Ensuring people have access to renal dialysis is why we have invested in the service in Wales.

“Together For Health – our five-year plan for the NHS in Wales – emphasises our key policy of delivering safe, high-quality services as locally as possible close to people’s homes to reduce the burden of travel.

“This centre will be a great example of the Welsh Government’s commitment to improving health services across Wales to make them safe and sustainable for now and into the future, even at a time of such perceived uncertainty.

“We will continue to modernise facilities and increase capacity for dialysis in a number of suitable sites across Wales as part of a programme of development in renal dialysis care.”